Wouldn't it cause the same distress if the deceased person really had had a LinkedIn account? Seems to me that the distress is not caused by the tactics in and of themselves.

Recently deceased is forgiveable. Long-deceased is massively insensitive.

Those suggestions should be restricted to profiles of people recently active that you may know.

Really though, how would they know? How can they know?

Maybe it's not common (at least while most developpers are not in their 80's) and they didn't think of it.

The idea that they are evil people is more appealing, though.

How should anybody know, from an email address alone, if the owner is alive?